Mongol States from Dawn until Dusk

After the death of Mongke in 1259, the empire for all intents and purposes was di­vided into several large parts: the Golden Horde, the Yuan dynasty, the Chagatai ulus and the Ilkhans.

The difficulty that Chagatai's successors faced in ruling the ulus was exacerbated by the fact that the population in the western part consisted of Persian Muslims, whereas in the east there were Uyghurs, who professed Buddhism and Nestorianism. The state of affairs was further complicated by the presence of both nomads and settled agriculturists. For this reason, among the ruling elite of the ulus there were always two opposing tendencies. One group adhered to an active military doctrine, that is, upholding the nomadic-military traditions of pillage and destruction of the agricultural population. A second group believed in the necessity of safeguarding the agriculturists and city dwellers, and gradually developing sedentary lifestyles. During the period when Chagatai and his immediate successors reigned, the first tendency dominated. However, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the situ­ation changed.

In the decade of the 1340s, the Chagatai Khanate broke up into two parts: Transoxiana, where power was in the hands of Turkish-Mongol emirs and settled ag­riculture was practiced, and Moghulistan, where Chinggis Khan's descendants con­tinued to rule and the traditional steppe lifestyle dominated. Nomadic herders made up the bulk of the population in Moghulistan. In years of prosperity, the borders of the Moghuls stretched from Kumul to Tashkent. This was a typical semi-nomadic khanate, in which the rulers claimed to have unlimited power, but in reality their will was curtailed and balanced by the demands of the leaders of nomadic tribes. On several instances, these local Moghul leaders invaded Transoxiana, but they did not succeed in consolidating their grip there. In the first part of the fifteenth century, the Dzungars supplanted the Moghuls from Western Mongolia. One century later, the Moghuls lost their pasturelands in Zhetysu and Kyrgyzstan. Because of this, they were forced to adopt a settled way of life in the region near Kashgar, and made the city of Kumul their capital. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Moghuls became vassals of the Dzungars, and after the fall of the Dzungar Khanate, their territory was absorbed by the Qing dynasty.

The process whereby the Mongols conquered Iran unfolded in a rather different manner. The formation of the Ilkhanate, which was ruled by the house of Hulagu, had its roots in the decision made during the kurultai of1251 to set aside the western part of Iran, Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Armenia as an ulus for Hulagu Khan. The majority of these lands were unconquered at the time of the decision. Some of them (for example, Egypt) remained so. The Mongols' military campaigns brought these once flourishing states into desolation.

In the year 1258, Baghdad was demolished. The caliph was executed. He tried to plead for mercy, showing the Mongols all his secret caches, which were filled to the brim with innumerable treasures.

The march of Hulagu's troops across the Middle East was stopped only by the Mamluks. They suffered defeat to the Mamluks in the famous Battle of Ain Jalut (September 3, 1260). Military historians consider the main reason for the Mongols' failure to be the Mamluks' high level of military professionalism and the pre­dominance of light cavalry in the Mongol army. The Mamluks were outstanding archers, and, unlike the Mongols, they preferred to shoot from a stationary posi­tion, allowing for greater precision. During the battle, the Mongols only succeeded in overrunning the Mamluks' left flank—the center and the right flank stood firm. When the Mongol cavalry tired, the Mamluks counterattacked on fresh horses and crushed their enemy.

The rulers of the new Mongol state in the Middle East started to call themselves ilkhans (Turkish for “khan of the country”). Tabriz was chosen as the capital. During their peak years, the ilkhans controlled Iran and a significant part of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the rulers only spent a small portion of their time in the capital. They mainly roamed over the steppe, accompanied by members of their military leadership and their herds. There were excellent deserts and pasturelands in Iran and Central Asia with oases of agricultural and city life nearby. This allowed the Mongols to maintain their customary nomadic lifestyle. The majority of the popu­lace, though, were Iranians who lived in the agricultural oases and cities.

The ilkhans adopted the administrative apparatus of the Khwarazmian dynasty. An ilkhan possessed a cabinet of ministers (Divan), which was headed by a vizier. Deputies were sent to every region of the state. Baskaks accompanied them to pro­vide oversight. Government officials (“people of the pen”) constantly competed with the military elite (“people of the sword”) for power.

The religion of Islam corresponded better than either Christianity or Buddhism to the martial way of life of the steppe nomads. As a result, the Mongols occupied a niche that was previously carved out by the local Turkish-Arabic ruling elite. The Mongols were perceived by the local elite as a new power that came to replace the old one, in part because their arrival closely corresponded to the cyclic paradigm of the rise and fall of nomadic statehood, which was widespread in Islamic philosophy (for example, in the works of Ibn Khaldun).

It is true, however, that at first the conquerors did not adopt the religion of the conquered. They related to all religions with tolerance. It is possible that Hulagu had more sympathy for Christians, since his favorite wife was a Nestorian. But, starting with Ghazan Khan (r. 1295-1304), Islam was adopted by the ruling dynasty. Ghazan overhauled the system of weights and measures, took action to rein in government corruption, cut taxes, brought order to the yam postal system, and standardized the currency by introducing silver coins of fixed value. In order to revitalize the crafts industry, he created government-sponsored workshops. Work was done to restore and improve the irrigation systems, and wine and silk production increased.

The ilkhans of the house of Hulagu lent their support to scientists and scholars. In the city of Maragheh, Nasir al-Din Tusi constructed the largest observatory of its time with the help of Chinese specialists.

The increasing influence of “people of the pen” could not but cause serious dis­content among “people of the sword.” Ghazan Khan was forced to make significant concessions to the nomadic military elite. In the year 1303, an edict was issued that strengthened the right of inheritance through iqta’. This significantly weakened centralized power. After the death of Ghazan Khan, those who opposed integration with the local agricultural population came to power. Soon after, all of Ghazans reform measures were annulled. The land of Ciscaucasia and Central Asian oases were lost following wars with the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. Ilkhan Abu Sa’id’s death in 1334 marked the last time the territory was under the control of a single khan, and in 1353 the state officially broke into several parts.

Despite the brutality of the Mongols in Central Asia and the Middle East, the level of destruction wrought by their conquests seems to be somewhat exaggerated. City life and trade were quickly restored. The production of wine, silk, and textiles expanded. The presence of vast steppe-like expanses allowed for the preservation of the nomadic style of life. However, since the cities and steppes were situated within one contiguous ecological zone, the conditions were such that active acculturation processes occurred. The conquerors eventually converted to Islam, and fit into the traditional (for these regions) bipolar system of interrelations between nomads and agriculturists.

However, the situation was completely different in Rus’. In proximity to the principalities of Rus’ were large tracts of land suitable for nomadic herding, but the principalities themselves were located in a different ecological zone. This allowed the khans of the Golden Horde to maintain their traditional lifestyle and control the internal affairs of Rus’ without having to resort to keeping large garrisons of troops in the conquered territory.

The Golden Horde occupied a vast amount of territory that took about six to eight months to travel across from east to west, and roughly two-thirds of that amount of time to travel from north to south. For convenience’s sake, it is possible to di­vide the state into several parts: the Cumanian steppes (Desht-i Qipchaq), Crimea and the Black Sea region, Khwarezm, the megalopolis of Sarai, and vassal states and principalities. The conquering Mongols gradually assimilated into the local cultures, and began to lose their language. However, the elite still used the language of their ancestors within their circles. A compelling piece of evidence for this are the archae­ological findings of inscriptions in Mongolian written using the Uyghur alphabet.

The de facto ruler of the Ulus of Jochi was Batu, Jochi's second son from his pri­mary wife. As has already been noted, Batu was the oldest and most widely respected of all of Chinggis Khan's grandchildren. He actively promoted the development of international trade. Similar to the rulers of Karakorum, he overpaid merchants for their goods in order to attract them to Sarai. Batu died in 1256, and his son Sartaq took the reins of power. But Sartaq was soon poisoned by his uncle Berke, and, following a swift coup, power ended up in the latter's hands. Berke continued to support merchants and the development of trade. Roads were constructed and shelters for caravans were established every 25 to 30 kilometers (the approximate distance of a day's march). During Berke's reign, a definitive break with the former heartland of the Mongol Empire occurred. He began actively to carry out a process of Islamization, inviting builders and craftsmen to erect mosques and minarets. Schools were founded where children were taught literacy and studied the Qur'an.

There were many cities in the Golden Horde. The cities were built by prisoners taken captive from agricultural states. Their socioeconomic position was quite trying at first. With time, though, the prisoners adapted. Their living conditions and social status improved. The capital of the Golden Horde became Sarai, a city built under Batu (The archaeological ruins of Sarai have been excavated in Astrakhan Oblast and are known in Russian as Selitrennoye Gorodishche). Sarai had a total area of about 10 square kilometers, and approximately 75,000 people resided there. The carefully planned city had wide streets, bazaars, and was divided into quarters. There was an underground sewage system made of wooden pipes. Within certain quarters of the city, large, fenced-off estates were located. There were also special quarters for metallurgists, potters, jewelers, and bone carvers. Judging by the available evidence, the craftsmen joined together in corporations according to their profession. There were also government-sponsored workshops that utilized forced labor.

During the height of the Golden Horde's power, an extremely large zone of polit­ical stability existed for 75 years, leading to the unprecedented growth of interna­tional trade and cultural exchange. On the shores of the Black Sea, trading posts of Genoese and Venetian merchants appeared—Tana on the mouth on the Don River and Caffa in Crimea (present-day Feodosiya). Ginger, nutmeg, pepper, oil, cotton, and alum (a valuable astringent) were imported from Central Asia, whereas silk, fabrics, and brocades were brought from China. The nomads sold livestock and slaves on the market, and from Rus' came honey, pelts, caviar, and wax.

Like other nomadic empires, the Golden Horde had a structure that consisted of two “wings.” It was divided into the left (or eastern) Kok-Orda (Blue Horde) and the right (or western) Ak-Orda (White Horde). The left wing had a higher status and headed the Golden Horde. Batu Khan commanded the right wing. The wings were divided into smaller wings, and, at a lower level of the hierarchy, into separate uluses (hordes), which comprised even smaller segments. They were led by noyans (Mongolian) or beks (Turkish). There were several dozen smaller hordes in total. The decimal military-administrative system operated parallel to these subdivisions— troops were simultaneously divided into tens, hundreds, and thousands.

The administrative apparatus included the positions of beklaribek and vizier. The beklaribek was in essence the joint ruler (along with the khan) of the Ak-Orda. He commanded the western part of the White Horde, which occupied the Black Sea steppes. The vizier governed the settled communities and cities. A specialized ap­paratus of bureaucrats, the divan, served him. The deputies who were in charge of regions or cities had their own functionaries, secretaries, and copyists. The names used for various official positions are known to historians: bitikchis (scribes), baskaks (collectors of tribute), and others. Some of these terms have Mongolian and Turkish roots. Others are linked with the influence of the conquered peoples who lived in settled communities. With the adoption of Islam, Shari‘ah started to operate alongside the traditional law of the Turkish-Mongolian nomads.

In China the Mongols fit into the classical scheme of dynastic change as a conse­quence of the preceding emperor's violation of the Mandate of Heaven. As a result, the Mongol Ulus was conveniently reborn as the Yuan dynasty. After Kublai Khan came to power, the spectrum of the khan's political interests shifted to China. By 1264 the capital had already been moved to Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing). In 1271 Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the Yuan dynasty. By 1279 all of China was under the khan's control. The government was headed by left and right chancellors (zaixiang). The government council (Zhongshu Sheng) was subordinate to them. The right chancellor was simultaneously the head of the six government bu (ministries and agencies). Besides these institutions, the central apparatus of government also included a military council (shumi yuan) and the chief censorate (yushitai). The Yuan Empire was divided into 11 provinces (sheng), which were in turn divided into administrative-territorial governmental bodies of a lower hierarchical order: roads (lu), regions (Ju), and so forth. Existing parallel to these divisions were 22 military circuits (dao).

Officially, the entire population of the state was assigned to one of four castes. Mongols belonged to the first caste, and they had the largest number of rights and privileges. The second position was occupied by the so-called colored-eyed peo­ples from Western and Central Asia (semuren). The Mongols used them in gov­ernment, since they were neither connected with the local Chinese population nor included in the clan hierarchy of the conquering Mongols. Lower still were natives of Northern China—Han Chinese, Jurchens, Khitans, and the Bohai (all four ethnic groups administratively labeled as hanren). The lowest rung in the hierarchy was re­served for the population of the Southern Song dynasty (nanren).

The Chinese population adhered to the principles of Confucianism. Buddhism and Daoism were also widespread. The Yuan emperors and the elite actively studied and adopted Confucian doctrine. The semu professed Islam and Christianity, religions that were foreign to the overwhelming majority of the dynasty's popu­lace. Because the semu were completely dependent on the Mongols, they served to relay the political decisions made by the Mongol khans and their companions in arms. According to some calculations, at least 30 percent of bureaucrats in official institutions were Mongols and semu. This quota was artificially maintained, and even after the system of exams for government positions was revived, simplified tests were instituted for Mongols and semu. In addition to this, it is possible to ob­serve a clear tendency of Mongols and semu being favored for promotions into higher levels of the bureaucratic hierarchy.

Having captured many territories in Northern China, the Mongols gave ample at­tention to the preparation of qualified translators in order to govern the subjugated territories. At first, the Mongols used the Uyghur alphabet in order to write down texts in their native tongue. A Mongolian script was created under Kublai Khan by the Tibetan lama Drogon Chogyal Phagpa (Phags-pa) in 1269. This so-called square script did not have a long history, and after the Mongols returned to the steppes when the Yuan dynasty fell, they resumed usage of the Uyghur writing system. This script was also utilized by the Golden Horde, where the Mongol elite issued yarlyks in the Mongolian language, written using the Uyghur alphabet.

After the Mongols conquered all of China, the economy gradually began to re­cover, cities were rebuilt, and the population started to grow again. Trade devel­oped at an extremely rapid rate. Despite the various (and not insignificant) duties and tariffs levied on trade, profits far outpaced any expenses. Even the fear of rob­bers could not stop merchants arriving from distant lands. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo described the capital of the Yuan dynasty, Khanbaliq, with genuine de­light, unaccustomed as he was to such opulence on the grandest of scales:

The multitude of inhabitants, and the number of houses in the city of [Khanbaliq]... The suburbs are even more populous than the city, and it is there that the merchants and others whose business leads them to the capital, take up their abode... To this city everything that is most rare and valuable in all parts of the world finds its way; and more especially does this apply to India, which furnishes precious stones, pearls, and various drugs and spices. From the provinces of Cathay itself, as well as from the other provinces of the Empire, whatever there is of value is brought here, to supply the demands of those multitudes who are induced to establish their residence in the vicinity of the court. The quantity of merchandise sold exceeds also the traffic of any other place; for no fewer than a thousand carriages and pack-horses, loaded with raw silk, make their daily entry; and gold tissues and silks of various kinds are manu­factured to an immense extent.^[1370]

The legacy of the Mongols in China is still a matter of much dispute. Some authors are inclined to characterize the Yuan government as more heavy-handed and severe in comparison to those of the autochthonous dynasties. To them, even the flour­ishing of Chinese national culture can be explained by the fact that the conquerors reluctantly incorporated Confucians into the government. For this reason, many members of the Chinese intellectual elite turned to literature, art, and science. In the opinion of others, the situation was not so one-sided. Despite the decrease in population size, the economy developed apace and the emperors were great patrons of literature and painting.

With the passage of time, the Mongol garrisons, stationed in the cities, lost their war-like qualities. This was due to several reasons, including the weakening of the common identity shared by the nomadic community, the acculturation of the no­madic elites to the values of the conquered society, the constant hardships borne by simple herders who participated in endless wars and served in garrisons, and a period of inauspicious climatic conditions that occurred at the end of the thir­teenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century. This brought many no­madic families to ruin, and they had to sell their wives and children into slavery. Since it ran against the khan' s interests to see simple herders, who formed the back­bone of the army, suffer such deprivation, measures were taken to support them. The government bought nomads' wives and children out of slavery and distributed livestock, cloth, money, and bread. Many soldiers took Chinese wives and adopted Chinese customs. Bilingualism became the usual practice in these mixed families. This provides the basis to speak about processes of partial acculturation during the Yuan dynasty. However, whereas Khitans and Jurchens (particularly the latter) firmly marched down the road of Sinicization, the Mongols remained “barbarians” in comparison to the preceding dynasty in the eyes of the native population. The imperial family adopted Chinese ceremonial customs, but the ethnic tension be­tween the conquerors, the Chinese, and other peoples of the empire remained. Despite over one hundred years of Mongol rule, these feelings never fully vanished from the native populace.

Starting at the end of the thirteenth century, dissatisfaction at the conquerors' op­pression grew. In the fourteenth century, anti-Mongol activity took on the character of organized resistance. In 1351 an uprising led by the White Lotus sect occurred, and this was quickly followed by the uprising of the “Red Turbans.” Despite the harsh suppression of the protests, the movement spread across the entire realm. In January 1368 the rebels took the capital by storm and proclaimed a new dynasty, the Ming dynasty. The Yuan emperor was forced to flee to the steppes of Mongolia. But the house of Chinggis Khan was so large by this point that there was not enough land and property to go around to satisfy all of its members. The historical sources reveal that the economic condition of some of the Great Conqueror's descendants did not significantly differ from the lot of common herders. All of this led to the escalation of internal conflicts and power struggles. It is curious to note the year 1380 marked the final demise of the epoch of total Mongol domination in the Old World. In Russia, this year is associated with the Battle of Kulikovo, when Prince Dmitrii defeated Mamai's Golden Horde army. However, it is less widely known that in this same year, the army of the Ming dynasty crossed the Gobi and burned down Karakorum. The steppe empire was struck right in its very heart.